Eddie Nketiah: A Player Profile
With Gabriel Jesus’ injury and Arsenal looking unlikely to sign a striker, Eddie Nketiah is finally being given a run of games as the starting striker for the best team in the league so far this season. With two goals in three starts, Nketiah has been playing well but his doubters are unconvinced. Has Eddie Nketiah got what it takes at the top level?
I’m an avid Arsenal fan and, up until around 2020, I had an unoptimistic view of Nketiah. He felt ineffective on the pitch and his shooting was inconsistent at best. His youth was obviously a plus but when he was given game time, I would usually groan (a serious lack of foresight on my part).
However, something changed in 2020, and there were serious improvements to his game, as well as a hunger about him. In the All or Nothing documentary, there is a great moment when he is talking to Albert Sambi Lokonga, who is annoyed by the fact he is not playing more.
Nketiah’s response? “So what my friend? You think you’re the only one not playing? Stop feeling sorry for yourself”. Those are the words of a true professional.
It is also clear that Arteta has a lot of faith in the young striker, demonstrated by the new 5 year, 26 million pound contract he was given. With Gabriel Jesus being Gabriel Jesus and Folarin Balogun seriously impressing in his time in France, that is a considerable sign of faith.
So, what are Nketiah’s main strengths and weaknesses, and how good can he be for Arsenal?
Strengths: Physical attributes, hunger and persistence, dribbling, ball striking, instinct, receiving and turning, movement (crosses especially)
Weaknesses: Passing, aerial duels, discipline, can isolate himself
First, his strengths:
Physical attributes + hunger and persistence: Nketiah is fast and strong, and is a consistent sprinter on the pitch. He works very hard on the press (most of the time, there have been instances where he is a bit passive) and he gets goals that other strikers won’t, thanks to his speed combined with his hunger to score.
A great example of this were his two goals against Chelsea in our 4–2 win last season. For his first goal, Nketiah needs to sprint almost the whole pitch and maintains his composure beautifully. After watching Lacazette play for a season, I had rarely been so happy at a striker scoring such a non team goal.
On that point, I think that is why some Arsenal fans are not that convinced with Eddie. He doesn’t usually score worldies, he often scores scrappy, ugly goals and fans don’t give as much credit for those. But that is exactly what you want your striker to do.
Nketiah also has the strength to outmuscle players. For his second goal in that Chelsea game, he battles with Kante, Thiago Silva and Sarr and comes off on top. Yes, he gets lucky, but strikers make their own luck, and I guarantee a lot of other players don’t score that goal.
So, he has brilliant physical attributes, which combined with his hunger and persistence will make him an absolute nuisance on the pitch for his opponents and net him goals from nothing, as well as helping his team out defensively while offering loads offensively. He is extremely good in this sense.
Dribbling: This is an enormous strength for Nketiah. Not only does he not hesitate to take on players, he dribbles very directly, going straight to goal (this can also sometimes be a weakness, as discussed later).
The stats agree, with him placing high both in dribbles attempted and dribbles completed metrics. He is not afraid to take on players and often succeeds. This has improved considerably as Arteta has put more and more faith into him.
This is also something he is only going to get better at as he gains more confidence and more experience, knowing when to take on his man and when not to.
Just recently in the West Ham game, he ghosted past Dawson and pushed on into the penalty area. It lead to nothing in this case, but it was a brilliant example of what the young man is capable of.
Receiving and turning: Linked to his dribbling, Nketiah is brilliant at receiving the ball with his back to the defender, in his own half and in the oppositions.
He can then pass it to a supporting player, which he does consistently, but he also often controls it, keeps his body between the defender and the ball and then uses his strength to turn away from the defender and start going forward, in a similar way to Saka does. This can either relieve the team a lot or get an attack going, keeping Arsenal on the front foot.
It’s an imperative skill for a striker and one that he needs to develop further, but there are extremely encouraging signs so far.
Ball striking: For me, this has been where Nketiah has improved the most and it must have come from hard work on the training ground. Pre 2020, I was seriously concerned with his striking abilities, often missing the target with weak shots.
Now, he hits the target far more consistently. He could still improve a bit in terms of shot power, but he hits the ball so much more cleanly and places it very well, almost always troubling the keeper.
Although he hasn’t scored one yet (unless I’m mistaken), he has started curling the ball towards the bottom corners, a very effective shooting strategy.
I would be very surprised if he doesn’t keep improving in this department, and this may be the area where he has a slight advantage over Jesus, whose finishing is what stops him from being one of the very best strikers in the world, considering how exceptional he is at everything else.
Instinct + movement: This is another crucial ability for strikers, and one that is more innate than other skills (even if it can be taught).
Eddie’s movement in the box for crosses is seriously good. He has a knack for arriving at the right time, and thanks to his instincts, he is a great finisher.
Indeed, he could be described as a poacher if he didn’t have a lot more to his game because of how effective he is around the penalty area and how he pounces on loose balls, like his goal against Brighton on New Year’s Eve.
If the ball is given to him enough in dangerous areas, there is no doubt that he will score and he is seriously good at putting himself in those dangerous areas.
Teammate Gabriel Martinelli is elite in this sense, often finding himself on the end of crosses. He might even be competition for Nketiah in the future for that CF spot at Arsenal. Add Balogun, Jesus and potentially Khayon Edwards (who I haven’t seen much of but heard a lot about), and that’s serious options at striker for the Arsenal.
But even if he is not given the ball, Nketiah will find it and score goals. All the elite strikers do that and it will get him a few goals every season, at least.
Now, for his weaknesses:
Passing + isolation: This is the biggest area that Nketiah has to improve on in my opinion. His passing stats are not very good in terms of assists and created chances, although there have been good signs. He just needs to do it more consistently, especially in the current Arsenal team where goals come from all over the pitch.
Also, as good as his direct dribbling is, it can often isolate himself from the team. If you look at the way Manchester City build up play and move forward on the pitch, it’s always well coordinated and in blocks. They always take their time whereas sometimes with Nketiah, I feel he can rush into attacking mode a little too quickly, which can be a good thing or a bad thing.
However, he does sometimes dribble himself into trouble too much and he needs to improve, or rather make his link up play more consistent in my opinion.
The fact that he’s playing up top for the best team in the league this season also has to be taken into account. Arsenal are scoring goals for fun, and as such, Nketiah’s stats need to reflect this (two goals in three starts certainly does and he is more of a goalscorer than a player who creates chances).
Aerial duels: This is not so much in the box but just aerial duels in general, where Eddie doesn’t use his strength to win headers. This isn’t the most important thing, especially with Arsenal who build up from the back, but it would help in certain situations and is something he should aim to improve.
Luckily, it doesn’t really affect him in the box, as he thrives off low crosses and will find himself in space for headers, meaning he doesn’t need to duel with the defender as much. However, even just for corners, it would add another dimension to his game.
Discipline: Again, this one isn’t too much of a big deal but Eddie often gets himself booked and often fouls. This is partly due to his hunger to help the team, but I also feel that he can get a bit frustrated sometimes, and that could cost the team.
His mentality interests me a lot, because in some ways it is clearly elite and that of a top athlete. However, I sometimes feel that he can be a bit sulky and hide on the pitch sometimes. Hopefully this is something he can iron out with experience.
Overall though, Eddie Nketiah is a very, very exciting young player. If he improves his strength and lessens his weaknesses, I really believe that even in a couple of months, when Jesus returns from injury, Arteta might have a difficult decision on his hands on who starts in that CF role. That will be exactly the kind of difficult decision that Arteta dreams of having as a manager.
Of course, he has only had limited minutes on the pitch, especially with the starting line up, so it is still difficult to tell at this point (at least for me). These next months are crucial for his development but I am seriously excited about Edward Nketiah.
